engineering needle storage (pic fiesta- ole!) EDIT:W/TUTORIAL

for many moons I kept all my knitting needles in a bag that hung on a doorknob with no rhyme or reason, not knowing what on earth I had or what I needed for which project. I collect lots of crafting artifacts from thrift stores-
translation: lord only knows what I've got where & when & why

I've never wanted a storebought needle organizer because they either have too much storage, or not enough, or they're expensive, or they've got engineering flaws I would end up having to fix anyway, and they're made of that awful backpack material & they look awful

My solution: I made my own!

Vintage Fabric Needle Roll

(bad picture but you get the idea)

Canadian Physics Textbook turned into DPN/Circular/Crochet Hook storage

they work great, and now I know what I have!

CANADIAN PHYSICS BOOK NEEDLE STORAGE TUTORIAL
(say that five times fast)

1.find a cool book and tear it to pieces (there were some great illustrations that I had to save, recycle the rest!)

2. take your new empty book cover, lay it flat on your fabric & cut your rectangle with about 1 inch seam allowance

3. sew the edges of your rectangle (you won't use your book cover again until you've got everything sewn together)

see?

4. Now you'll start placing your needles, I started with my smaller needles on the right side. To establish a base from which to work, I sewed ribbon on the far edge (pick something STRETCHY! I had to tear the ribbon off and start over with nylon hem tape)

5. stack your needles (I put them in numerical order), I pinned them under the ribbon, and used some skinny green elastic to hold them in a few inches up from the ribbon, use your best judgement.
I found that pinning with the elastic loosely UNDER the needles still ensured enough stretch to keep them secure

6. sew the sides of your hem tape down.

7. sew down the elastic and hem tape where you put your pins (I foudn I didn't need to sew around every single needle, you'll probably find the same thing while you're pinning, my DPNs needed the most control and support-- like a bra, think of your project as a needle bra!)

when you're done it look-a like this:

8. repeat the process on the other side for bigger, taller needles

9. the fun part: Super 77!
I used spray glue to carefully secure my frankenstein fabric to the book cover

and used tacky glue to make sure the edges were double-plus-sticky
(careful not to un-do your beautiful spray-glue job)

10. add the ribbon closure with tacky glue, make sure to clamp it down

11. the least fun part: squish your project between the heaviest books you can find and let the glue set up overnight12. ALTHOUGH I AM RABIDLY OPPOSED TO HOT GLUE ON FABRIC (and you should be too!), I added a piece of the same ribbon with hot glue to the top of the left side for all my circulars

***I also reinforced the needle-catching hem tape on the bottom with a few dabs of hot glue,*** but not in any place that would be under pressure or weight! hot glue will betray you my sisters, don't be fooled by instant gratification...

I used the same fabric that covers our kitchen bulletin board,

go vintage or go home! Grin

everything you see in this post was bought for next to nothing at thrift stores, including the majority of my needles and crochet hooks. A little patience & a limited budget goes a long way.